1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to interactive touch screen displays, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for choosing an intended target element from an imprecise touch on a touch screen display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Touch is a highly imprecise input mechanism on touch screen displays. Yet, touch is so visceral that correctly responding to a user's touch on a clickable area of touch screen display is essential to a good user experience. When responding to touch on a touch screen display, most touch applications use “hit testing” which requires a touch to be within a certain region around or within an interactive element to cause that element to be selected. This region is usually offset slightly lower than the target element to accommodate user tendency to touch slightly below the intended element. This approximate matching works well for interfaces designed explicitly for interactivity via touch. Such interactive elements can be appropriately sized and placed far enough apart from each other so that it is easy to discern which region was intended.
However, for interfaces that pre-date touch screen implementation, it is likely that existing interactive elements might be small, or placed closely together (particularly at low zoom levels). For these, a simple expanded hit region is not enough because there will be many overlapping regions on the page.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for choosing an intended target element from an imprecise touch on a touch screen display.